OPEN VS SECRET

Over the past two years, planBelize has been revitalizing Belize and ‘Open for Business’ became the clarion call from Belize to the world that Belize is a potent and growing investment hub. Belize speedily, in the usual turnaround time for economies, beat the odds and predictions set by most of the International Financing Institutions(IFIs). Belize overnight became the best practice extraordinaire for the world when it came to debt management and GDP growth. The world wanted to see Belize, the secret was out. The Tourist industry announced that Belize was back and more open than ever before. A quick search of ‘Belize Open for Business’ and ‘Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secret’ will yield hits galore. These two mantras were seemingly in cahoots and tandem for success.

The Belize Tourism Board has it that last year, 2022, Belize registered 370,524 overnight tourist arriv-als representing a 69.2% growth over the previous year. All indications with just the first two months in 2023 are that this will be eclipsed this year. As you peek over the economic horizon, Easter is here and to get a hotel room at the start of Holy Week will be met with apologies. If you tiptoe up, you will see Investment Summit 2023 on the 9-11th of August already chomping at the bits ready to showcase that 2023 is grander. Tourism measures itself in overnight stays and investment measures itself in For-eign Direct Investment. In 2022, FDI in millions of dollars went from approximately 256 to 261 and is projected to be higher in 2023. It is predicted to remain above 200 million each year up to 2027, more than a Billion in investment. Confidence in the Belizean product? The BTB has surely got the attention of Belize in every travel magazine available.

In the past month, the Music Concerts, Ruta Maya, Music Festival Pre-Fest Jam, Band Fest and other celebrations have confirmed the worse of UDP fears. PlanBelize has Belize overflowing with investor confidence, job opportunities, entrepreneurial growth, and MSME activity. Those at the helm of Tourism, and Investment surely are reading out of the same book as they are definitely in tandem with their success. Officially, the pandemic is lingering in the world yet also officially the bubbling economy of Belize is looking at that pandemic in the rearview mirror. What can Belizeans do to keep this success growing? Belizeans can keep getting themselves educated. They can keep upgrading their capacity to perform at a higher level. They can seek and keep employment. They can create a money-making venture.

Very crucial in this push to become an economic power in our own right is the advancement of women. Today, women's empowerment is highly visible everywhere in Belize in business, education, and, even, government. As politics is a bit different, women in politics have lots more ground to cover but it is only a matter of time. On the dais at the National Assembly for the Taiwanese Presidential visit there were three women at the fore in the lopsided male-dominated House. Speaker Valerie Woods noted to the packed building and the President that it was certainly the first time that three women had been in those three positions at one time. Specifically, women empowerment makes up the majority of registered MSMEs in Belize. The world is noticing.

Any chance that Belize is still Mother Nature’s secret is an allure in a marketing strategy that is seemingly still working. This Easter will be a financial bonanza for hotels, airlines, restaurants, car rentals and all entertainment-type businesses. Belize is truly open for Business in the truest sense of the word. With increasingly more visitors flocking to our shores, Belize becomes a magnet for investment dollars. This confidence is one that only the magic and marvel of planBelize can allow. Come to Belize! We are open for Business and during your break visit some of Mother Nature’s Best Kept Secrets.